BlackMask Breaking News

“The magnitude of the overall impact on our business for the full-year 2020 cannot be quantified reliably at this point in time,” it said, adding it would give more details when it publishes 2019 results on March 11.

Adidas sells its products from about 12,000 stores in China, most of them franchises plus less than 500 own-operated stores. Puma said it expected the virus outbreak to hit its sales and profits in the first quarter but it still hopes to reach its targets for 2020. Puma said more than half of its stores in China were temporarily closed and the decline of the Chinese tourism business was also hurting other markets, especially in Asia. It said the uncertainty about the duration of the virus made it difficult to forecast but it is working under the assumption that the situation will normalize in the short-term. In the fourth quarter, Puma reported its strongest sales growth in the Asia/Pacific region of a currency-adjusted 23%. Nick Note: See the game? the sold out pompous pricks on Wall Street told you how China with the emerging middle class of a billion people was the future. Form smart phone companies to Starbucks sugar water flavored coffee the plastic show makers to apple, Intel, Navidia to name a few all otld how China was the future. Even fast food shops Like KFC (Yum Brands) McDonald’s and the rest of heart attack food provayers  ALL based their ENTIRE future on China. In the retail category stores Like Gucchi,  Tiffanies, Wallmart  carrefour, Tesco,  Amazon your internet China supply to your door  store, WallMart your China retail shop on every corner and even grocery chains went ape shit crazy to get to China to make things, Sell things and supply things. Do not forget car companies like Gm, Ford, Tesla, Toyota to name a few the world over rely on China for their just in time single source critical parts suppliers. Now these S&P500 companies are defining in their silence refusing to report the impact of the FACT that half of China’s workforce are still under quarantine……. Well i am here ready to charge them a great big lieing asshole tax…….. AGAIN!!!!

https://youtu.be/yXObdrvJ-LI?t=25

The Treasury curve remained inverted on Wednesday as yields on three-month bills traded above yields on 10-year notes in a sign that some investors remain cautious about the outlook.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, is still struggling to get its manufacturing sector back online after imposing severe travel restrictions to contain a virus that emerged in the central province of Hubei late last year. Many investors view Chinese data on the virus, dubbed SARS-CoV-2, with a great deal of scepticism, but there are hopes that officials will roll out more stimulus to support the economy. “Part of the thinking that is supporting markets is the actions that China takes to support its economy,” said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney. “Any investor concern around impact on demand globally from the virus will be offset by expectations that global central banks will ride to the rescue.” U.S. stock futures rose 0.3% in Asia on Wednesday. The S&P 500 fell 0.29% on Tuesday after Apple Inc said it would miss sales targets because the virus in China is pressuring its supply chain. Mainland China had 1,749 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Tuesday, the country’s National Health Commission said on Wednesday, down from 1,886 cases a day earlier and the lowest since Jan. 29. The death toll in China has topped more than 2,000 from the flu-like illness which has already spread to 24 other countries. The People’s Bank of China cut the interest rate on its medium-term lending on Monday, which is expected to pave the way for a reduction in the benchmark loan prime rate on Thursday, as policymakers try to ease financial strains caused by the virus. In the currency market, the euro was quoted at $1.0798, close to its lowest since April 2017. Sentiment remained weak after a survey on Tuesday showed a sharp deterioration in German investor sentiment due to the coronavirus. In the onshore market, the yuan briefly fell to a two-week low of 7.0136 per dollar as traders continued to ponder the economic impact of the virus and the chance for more monetary easing. The yield on three-month Treasury bills stood at 1.5949% in Asia on Wednesday, above the 10-year Treasury yield of 1.5661%. A yield curve inverts when short-term yields trade above long-term yields and is often considered a sign of recession in the next year or two. U.S. crude and Brent both rose more than 1% to $52.63 a barrel and $58.39 per barrel, respectively, as a reduction in supply from Libya offset concerns about weaker Chinese demand for commodities.

Expectations are that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers including Russia will cut output further should lend support to prices. OPEC+, will meet in Vienna on March 6.

Nick Note: Remember me…… I got you out of the pound with profits….. i got you out of gold at the most recent bottom. And had you buy oil on the bottom and we are about to take profits…. again. And we are selling the S&P500 at the top and buying the FNGD on the lowest price ever. ITS called the teetotaler! AND add to that shorting the 30 year bond at the lowest yield since the great depression….. And this is how you make money the Nick way… For the record every closed trade for the past year as in ALL has been profitable… if you did not LIZARD out! I am doing my job now go and do yours.

Here’s a look at the decline in cases, according to WHO data. These numbers may differ from those reported by national health authorities, who report updated totals at different times than the WHO.

At its peak, Marcato managed roughly $3 billion in assets, but assets have now shriveled to a few hundred million, one of the sources said.

Returns tumbled late last year, leaving the fund with a sizable loss for 2018, an investor said. This year, while strong at the start, will also end in the red after some of the firm’s investments that are vulnerable to the effects of the U.S.-China trade war, like Terex Corp, took a hit. From its launch through September 2018, Marcato International returned an average 10.7% a year, roughly double the 5.5% gain posted by its HFRI Event Driven: Special Situations Index. Shrinking assets, while uncomfortable for all investors, are especially problematic for activist investors that push management to make changes ranging from buying back shares to selling off divisions to refreshing their boards. An activist fund’s agreements with target companies often include pledges to keep a certain amount of money in the stock, something that can become difficult when clients demand their money back from the activist fund. McGuire expects to keep managing his own capital and could in the future partner with others on investments, one of the sources said. Raising new capital for activist funds has been tough since late 2015 when investors began worrying more about the prospects of a recession when long-biased activist funds often fare poorly. This year has been a winner for many activist funds as strong gains in the markets, specifically in the software and consumer sectors, have buoyed many portfolios including Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management, which has gained more than 50% this year.

But hundreds of hedge funds have also shuttered their doors this year. Hedge Fund Research reported that 540 funds shut in the first three quarters of 2019, while only 391 funds have launched during that time. In 2018, a total of 659 funds shut down, according to HFR data. Nick Note: Maybe he picked the wrong algo!

As many as 117 multiemployer pension plans covering 1.4 million participants are underfunded and sponsors have told regulators and participants that they could fail within the next 20 years, according to a report issued just before the holidays by Cheiron Inc, an actuarial consulting firm that advises multiemployer plans, public employers, nonprofit organizations and corporations.

Seven plans failed in the past year when they became insolvent or terminated after all the employers withdrew. And up to 12 more plans covering 245,000 participants signaled in filings with the U.S. Department of Labor that they are likely to fail by the end of this year. The plans are sponsored by union locals covering truck drivers, bricklayers and other workers. In the past year, the amount of total underfunding has risen 15.7% to $56.5 billion. But with action unlikely during an election year, the problem likely will now wait until 2021 or later – and it becomes more expensive and difficult to solve as more plans fail with every passing year, said Gene Kalwarski, CEO of Cheiron. Cheiron’s analysis notes that 44 plans expect to fail by 2025 – the year when the biggest underfunded plan – the Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Plan – runs dry. The multiemployer fund of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), which backstops the plans, would be exhausted in that year, as well. In 2025, the benefits of 639,400 workers will be at risk, Cheiron said. An earlier attempt at reform was passed in 2014. But the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act has faced strong resistance from retiree organizations, consumer groups and some labor unions. That law lets troubled plans apply for government permission to make deep benefit cuts if they can show that the reductions would prolong plan life. When plans go belly-up, the PBGC steps in to pay a portion of benefits. But insurance premiums – and benefit levels – are much lower for multiemployer plans than for single employer plans. The PBGC guarantee is based on a pension for each year of service a person earns under his or her plan; the maximum guarantee is $12,870 for a worker with 30 years of service – far less than that person would receive from a solvent plan. In July, the House of Representatives passed legislation to address the problem, built around providing low-interest loans to struggling plans. But in the Senate, several key committees issued a white paper with a very different focus than the House bill. It would boost substantially the premiums that plan sponsors pay into the system, and would add premiums paid by retirees as well, which would effectively act as a benefit cut. It also contains reforms to the discount rate assumptions plans use to project future health. “Republicans view the House bill as a bailout, and Democrats think the Senate plan would make healthy plans fail,” said Kalwarski. The Republican plan “would in effect spell the end for multiemployer plans,” he added. “More plans would collapse, leaving fewer plans holding the bag to pay premiums.” Nick Note: If you are relying on a corporate pension plan for your reterment…. Well let me put it his way buy a tent now…..

Soldiers are enforcing curfews in Hubei province, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, as millions are confined to their homes. Hospitals there are overwhelmed as the number of suspected cases grew by thousands overnight.

Chinese authorities are resorting to increasingly extreme measures in Wuhan to try to halt the spread of the deadly coronavirus, ordering house-to-house searches, rounding up the sick and warehousing them in enormous quarantine centres.

The urgent, seemingly improvised steps come amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in Wuhan, one exacerbated by tactics that have left this city of 11 million with a death rate from the coronavirus of 4.1 per cent as of Thursday — staggeringly higher than the rest of the country’s rate of 0.17 per cent.

With the sick being herded into makeshift quarantine camps, with minimal medical care, a growing sense of abandonment and fear has taken hold in Wuhan

Chinese authorities are resorting to increasingly extreme measures in Wuhan to try to halt the spread of the deadly coronavirus, ordering house-to-house searches, rounding up the sick and warehousing them in enormous quarantine centres. The urgent, seemingly improvised steps come amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in Wuhan, one exacerbated by tactics that have left this city of 11 million with a death rate from the coronavirus of 4.1 per cent as of Thursday — staggeringly higher than the rest of the country’s rate of 0.17 per cent.

With the sick being herded into makeshift quarantine camps, with minimal medical care, a growing sense of abandonment and fear has taken hold in Wuhan, fuelling the sense that the city and surrounding province of Hubei are being sacrificed for the greater good of China.